Paint Out – The Norwich Plein Air Art Competition

Paint Out™ is an art event aiming to redefine 21st century en plein air art practice. Our core event, now in its fifth year, is the UK’s premier and only fully juried en plein air art competition, celebrating the talents of national and international artists before a wide and growing audience in the heart of medieval and iconic Norwich, and giving the public an opportunity to ‘Experience Art. Live!‘

Plein Air – Art works carried out in the open air – chiefly with reference to painting.

The Paint Out competitions, however, accept any 2-dimensional media or mixed-media applied to a canvas/board/paper/print embracing drawing, pastels, oils, watercolour, gouache, acrylic, pen and ink, and even screen-printing and digital submissions. Innovation and originality are encouraged alongside traditional art forms. Our painting sessions can last 2-4 hours, day or night!

Paint Out Norwich 2018

This was our fifth year and twelfth Paint Out competition event, not to mention 8 public paint outs. Paint Out Norwich 2018plein air painting days during the Hostry Festival 2018 ran 13-16th October (a weekend-only option was also available) with a public ‘paintout‘ on Sunday 21st, and a Private View, Awards & Art sale on 17th October. This was followed by an art exhibition of over 150 paintings (from 300 created) until 28th October at the Norwich Cathedral Hostry. Applications were juried by our selector David Curtis ROI RSMA.. View the 2017 winners or 2016 gallery online.

We have a number of events each year in East Anglia before and during Paint Out Norwich to whet your appetite including several Paint Out days May-Sep in Suffolk & Norfolk with opportunities to paint historical changing rural and urban landscapes as we seek to use Paint Out events to document our changing environment.

Paint Out History

Paint Out Norwich launched in 2014 and since then well over 120 different artists have taken part in our professional competitions and over 150 in our public paint outs. Our first satellite painting event was Wells-next-the Sea 2015 on the North Norfolk coast. That year also saw first-of-its-kind mass public ‘paint outs’ firstly on Wells Beach at sunrise and then, the following month, of some 100 artists, of all ages, painting the expansive Norwich skyline, from historic Mousehold Heath. 2017 saw our first pop-up at a festival as the Royal Norfolk Show. 2018 saw first events at Great Yarmouth and in Sudbury, Suffolk. Read more about our Paint Out event history since 2014.

Sponsorship & Partnering with Paint Out

Paint Out is put on and sustained by art-loving founders and team members – some paid, some volunteers, with the aim of supporting the growth of plein air art. To achieve and maintain this we are indebted to our partners and sponsors who have provided funds, prizes, or goods and services-in-kind. If you would like to partner or sponsor current and/or future ‘paint outs’ please contact us.

Volunteering Opportunities

Paint Outis thankful for the hard work of its volunteers. Anyone interested in volunteering for our current ‘paint outs’, assisting artists, helping manage the registration desks and paintings, and being part of our arts events can register online or join our volunteers facebook group. It looks great on a CV!

Mission statement

Paint Out is a multifaceted arts event that aims to attract national and international talent by its annual events that focus on the challenges imposed by creating work ‘on the spot’ in the urban environment. Paint Out is keen to see a competition that tests artists’ skill and craft to the maximum, promoting the burgeoning UK arts scene, and providing an interactive educational experience. Our expanding events have included schools, public, and professional art competitions, artwork exhibitions and auctions, talks, “Artist’s Question Time”, and open air art workshops.

Follow Paint Out on Twitter

Follow us on Twitter

Support Us

Paint Out is put on and sustained by art-loving founders and team members - some paid, some volunteers, with the aim of supporting the growth of plein air art. To achieve and maintain this we are indebted to our partners, sponsors and volunteers. If you would like to support current and/or future 'paint outs' please contact us.